


His Girl Thursday

by misura



Category: Whistle!
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-19
Updated: 2009-11-19
Packaged: 2017-11-28 13:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/674733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shigeki has had many girlfriends, but none of them were actually real.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Girl Thursday

**Author's Note:**

> pretty sure I wrote this for some sort of ficfest or challenge, but I can't find any notes about that so er

"I got a new girlfriend," Shigeki says, because there's only so long he can keep himself entertained by watching Tatsuya watch a not particularly interesting game of soccer.

"Again?"

"She'll be my ninth." Hardly anyone at Josui High has had more than two girlfriends, let alone eight. It's one of the things that make Shigeki different from everyone else.

"Tenth, counting the one who followed you around for two months."

"She was twice my age! And anyway, she only wanted me for my body." There has been considerable speculation as to whether or not she got it - Shigeki steadfastly refuses any and all comment on the matter, claiming 'a gentleman never kisses and tells'. (While Shigeki considers himself many things, a 'gentleman' isn't among them, but of course only Tatsuya was smart enough to figure that out.)

"What's her name?" The game's winding down, and Tatsuya's attention is wavering.

"I haven't," Shigeki says, "figured out that part yet."

"Ah." The shrill sound of a whistle indicates the end of the game.

"I'm sure something will occur to me."

 

The way Shigeki looks at it, real girlfriends simply aren't worth the bother. It's not that he doesn't like girls; he likes them quite well enough, thank you. He just doesn't like them because they meet the average high school boy's standards of 'hotness'. (Naturally, all nine of his girlfriends do, although he's also given each of them some sort of flaw, like Akiko, who's obsessive about watering her plants or Yuri, whose father is a doctor and who's made it her personal goal to fold a thousand paper cranes each month to cure one random patient in the hospital where he works.)

He's never met a girl he wanted to kiss, or take home with him.

Still, when he was listening to some upperclassmen (losers one and all, and boring, which is the one truly unforgiveable sin in Shigeki's book) brag about their girlfriends (most particularly the size of their boobs) one day it just seemed impossible to keep his mouth shut.

(Her name was Yuki, her second greatest passion was baking, and her boobs were quite modestly sized ('but utterly soft and perfect', he'd added with a lovestruck expression on his face that wouldn't have fooled Tatsuya for even one second - he'd had them hooked with that 'soft', he knew) - he'd known her since kindergarten and they broke up, tragically, when her family emigrated to France.)

 

"Why don't you get a real girlfriend?" Tatsuya asks one lazy afternoon, but not as if he really wants to know the answer. It's interesting, Shigeki thinks, how he still can't tell when Tatsuya's pretending not to care and when he truly doesn't.

"Because then I'd have to go on dates with her instead of hang out with you."

The real answer, Shigeki thinks, is too long-winded, and the one he's given isn't a lie. It merely isn't the whole truth. Tatsuya's probably used to getting those kind of answers from him by now and besides, it's not like Tatsuya's such a chatterbox.

"Thanks." Tatsuya's tone is very dry. Shigeki grins.

"You're prettier than most girls I know anyway." It might, Shigeki thinks, be interesting to kiss Tatsuya.

"Not funny."

And Shigeki, seeing the expression on his face, doesn't tell Tatsuya he wasn't joking.

"I think I'm going to quit the team," he says, instead, just to get that expression off of Tatsuya's face.

Tatsuya blinks. Once. "What?"

(No assumption that he's not serious this time around, Shigeki notes; as far as understanding Tatsuya goes, that's probably a big clue, but he just can't quite figure out what it means.)

 

There's a part of him that hopes Tatsuya'll quit the team, too. That's the part that drives him to watch the team practice, with Homna being the moron he's always been, and Tatsuya meekly putting up with it. One of these days, Shigeki hopes he'll get to see Tatsuya finally snap - Shigeki quitting clearly has increased the pressure, but it's not quite enough.

He thinks he might consider rejoining if Tatsuya'd ask him.

"Must be pretty boring without me."

Tatsuya gives him a look that's actually worthy of the word 'withering'. 

"It's no worse than before." Which is a flaming lie, if Shigeki's ever heard Tatsuya tell one. There's no way soccer practice hasn't gotten a lot more boring now that the only other person who's any good is gone, leaving Tatsuya with nobody on his own level to play with.

"Reeaally?"

"If you want to come back, I'm sure the captain would let you rejoin, provided you ask him politely."

"When have you ever seen me act politely?" Shigeki snorts. "And I'm not interested in rejoining anyway. I'm done with soccer." Soccer's not like riding a bike; if you stop doing it for long enough, you'll forget how - or at least how to do it well.

That's why Shigeki's found a place to practice by himself, to stay in shape. Just in case.

"I didn't think you were the kind of person to quit like that."

"Well." That actually stings a little, that Tatsuya assumes he knows Shigeki well enough by now to accuse him of being a quitter. "I didn't think you were the kind of person to keep on going even if it's totally obvious to anyone with any sense that it's hopeless. 'cause that's just stupid."

Tatsuya's expression turns hot, then cold, and then, without saying another word, he just walks away, leaving Shigeki feeling like he's just lost. (He doesn't even know what game they were playing, let alone what the rules were.)

 

"I'm sorry."

Apologizing comes easily to Shigeki, provided the circumstances are right. And they are.

The hall's full of students, and while some are more openly interested than others, Shigeki knows they're all watching and listening. Tatsuya's almost as well-known as he is, if nowhere near as notorious for being a little crazy (except, of course, when it comes to soccer).

"I'm really sorry."

Tatsuya's ignoring him magnificently, exactly as Shigeki knew he would. It wouldn't be any fun, after all, if Tatsuya'd not act like his usual self.

"As I was saying - " Tatsuya turns around, trying to resume the conversation he was carrying on with someone who's no longer there.

"Please say you forgive me, Tatsu-bon."

Tatsuya's cheeks are flushed ever so slightly as he walks away. Shigeki lets him, for now, performing the role of a dejected, unforgiven sinner with style and verve, and boundless exaggeration.

 

It's dry on Tuesday. It's nice and warm all Wednesday. On Thursday evening, it rains.

Naturally, it's on Thursday evening that Tatsuya shows up on Shigeki's doorstep, soaked to the bone since, for some reason, he's neglected to bring an umbrella along, even if Shigeki's certain it was already raining when he left home.

"I forgive you," he says, as Shigeki hands him a towel and a dry shirt that says 'I'm with stupid', with an arrow pointing sideways. (Shigeki wanted to wear it the next time he and Tatsuya'd go somewhere together, probably to watch a soccer game.)

"Mighty big of you." Shigeki's not even sure what the fight was about, really. He'd kind of like to know what he did that pissed Tatsuya off so badly, possibly to try doing it again. "Can I kiss you now?"

There's water dripping from Tatsuya's hair all over his face. It's probably cooling down his face. "What?"

"You did come all this way to kiss and make up with me. Through the rain, even."

"That's not - " Tatsuya says. "We're not - "

"We could be." Shigeki gives Tatsuya his 'I'm serious' expression. It's not always as convincing as he'd like.

"You've got a girlfriend."

"A fake one. I'd dump her for you in a heartbeat, if you want me to."

"No! I mean - "

"You'd rather keep it a secret? Works for me. In fact, it might make things even more interesting." Shigeki thinks he can get away with quite a lot, in public, without anyone catching on. "So. Do you want to?"

He doesn't really think Tatsuya's going to say 'no'. If he does, Shigeki'd rather look like a complete and utter idiot - which would be a first, but some things, Shigeki thinks he can go without having experienced even once.

"Just a kiss," Tatsuya warns him.

"Why, Tatsu-bon, what else could I possibly want from you?"

"Could you not call me tha- "

(He lends Tatsuya an umbrella, and promises him that if Tatsuya catches a cold, he'll come visit to play nurse - Tatsuya mutters something about preferring to die quickly, but his face is still a little flushed, so Shigeki doesn't make an issue out of it, or mentions a nurse costume he doesn't happen to have lying around, although he's sure he'd be able to locate one, if needed.)


End file.
